Could You Hear My Cry?
by abbytemple
Summary: What if Johnny never dies and hears when Dally begs him not to die? He also hears Dally say something else that could shock everyone. What would their friendship become? Dally was always so protective of Johnny because he didn't want him to end up in jail, but was that really the only reason?
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my first Outsiders fanfic and it's so unlike any fic I've written in the past. I'm a manga and TV girl so this is definitely different but I just love this book and the movie soooooo much! I also love Dally and Johnny together so I'm sharing this story with hope that you will too!**

 **I do not own Outsiders.**

 **Dally's POV**

We sat there in almost complete silence, the only sounds being my heavy breathing and Ponyboy's muffled sobs. My mind was racing and I didn't know what I was feeling in my heart. I felt like it was almost breaking, it was a feeling I had never felt before in my life. I didn't know how to react, I just stared and wondered if he was really dead.

"No, no, this can't be happening…Johnnycake please wake up," I heard Ponyboy beg quietly. I looked up and saw his eyes that were barely visible behind all the tears he was trying to hold back. I knew mine were also like his, but I refused to cry no matter how much it hurt me not to. I couldn't cry in front of Ponyboy. I knew that I needed to be stronger than I had ever been before, especially for Ponyboy. I looked back down at my hands that were resting on my lap and noticed for the first time that I was shaking. Why would I have been shaking?

With one last sob, I heard Ponyboy get up and sprint out of the room with no other words leaving his mouth. It was too much for him, he couldn't take it and I didn't blame him. Johnny had no pulse anymore. He knew his best friend was gone.

"Johnny…Johnnycake," I whispered, carefully and cautiously placing my hand on his shoulder. I almost couldn't touch him, he looked so fragile and weak. Now that Ponyboy was gone, I let the tears fall down my face and for the first time ever, actually let my emotions out.

I glanced at his face and noticed that it seemed so much paler than it had ever been. His body was smaller and thinner than before. I held one of his hands in mine and covered it with my other hand. His hands were always so small, but at that time they were even smaller and daintier. Some of the burns on his body had been in the process of healing, but I started to wonder if my heart would ever heal from the burns created inside me.

I still let tears fall down my cheeks and wasn't thinking about anything except wanting Johnny back. I wanted my Johnny back. I never wanted anything bad to happen to him. I warned him not to do anything stupid so that he wouldn't end up like me. It took me a while to realize that it wasn't his fault that all this happened, he was only trying to protect the people he cared about the most. Just like I tried my best to protect him.

I had always treated him differently than I treated the others. It was because I did care about him more, I did want to protect him more. I had never thought about it until then, I did feel something different for Johnny, but I was confused why.

"Why? You can't die on me man, you just can't," I sobbed, hanging my head. I still held his hand in mine and I tightened my grip on it, but was careful not to hold it too tight. He was the reason why I was always so protective, he was the reason I was alive and the reason I was still living.

I gently ran my fingertips up his arms and across his chest, tracing every single scar he had from earlier fights with the Socs and other events with his father. Each scar had a different story and it was always a story that angered me. I knew what happened at Johnny's home and I knew what the Socs did to him. There were times where they probably would have killed him if I hadn't been there with the others to save him. I'd always wanted to hurt the Socs that hurt him, I always wanted to send his father to jail and have the bastard die while rotting in hell. I wanted to save Johnny from everything and the one time I couldn't and tried to anyway, I failed.

"I love you Johnnycake…I love you," I let the words fall out of my mouth and I knew that I wasn't lying. I felt a weight being lifted off my shoulders but my heart felt even worse than before. If that was how I felt towards him, then so be it. I loved him, but he was gone. He was never coming back. I missed my chance to be happy and it didn't even matter then.

I kept one of his hands in one of mine and rested my head in my other hand, leaning back in the chair. Wiping the tears away from my face, I tried to understand why I felt like I did. After a minute, I didn't care. I was there, with him and holding his hand. But he was gone.

"I love you," I whispered one last time before breaking down again. I started believing that I was the one who couldn't take it, I couldn't take the pain of losing someone that was so special to me.

"Dal…Dally," I gasped and felt the hand in mine slightly move. My eyes widened and I looked up to see Johnny's eyes slowly start to flutter open. I was so confused but I was too happy to ask questions. He had said my name, he had called for me.

"Hey, Johnnycake," I smiled letting tears of joy run down my face. I gently cupped his face in my hands and watched his eyes slowly open and close and repeat.

"Hmm?" Johnny mumbled with a small smile on his face. The first time I had seen him smile in such a long time. I couldn't remember the last time I saw him smile.

"We thought you were dead, you were barely breathing," I explained.

"No," Johnny told me. I was sure that everything would turn out okay, but we could never be so sure. After all, things wouldn't be normal after everything that happened during the earlier days.

"Good, stay alive," was all I could manage to say.

We stayed there together after everyone was informed that Johnny was okay after all. We sat there in silence with his hand in mine once again, except he was conscious and knew that I was holding his hand. But one more thing roamed my mind, did he hear me say that I loved him?

 **Well that was very…strange. I apologize if I did not capture Dally's character. If you think about it we don't really see his weak side very often. This is how I wanted Outsiders to end and then Dally and Johnny would live happily ever after together. But we will find out what happens next chapter won't we?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey I'm back and I thank everyone who followed and favorited this story already even though I'm only two chapters in! This is probably going to be a shorter chapter but the next one will be longer.**

 **I don't own Outsiders**

 **Dally's POV**

It was a few weeks full of struggles for Johnny. It was painful for me to see him hurting, but it was more painful for him to be the one in physical pain. He started to get better over time, and he even smiled sometimes when I would bring the gang to see him. I loved seeing how his eyes lit up when we told him stories and I even stayed once when Ponyboy started reading _Gone With the Wind_ to Johnny again. Ponyboy was especially happier than usual because his best friend wasn't dead after all. There was even a day where he and Johnny could almost hug each other without Johnny hissing in pain from any of his injuries. His smiles were more genuine and he seemed truly happy for once in his life. He could laugh easier and it brought a smile to my face for once.

But he still couldn't feel anything below his lower back. We knew he might never get that feeling back ever again. He had finally been able to sleep in an actual bed instead of whatever torture machine thing they put him in before. The other thing had scared me and it certainly scared Ponyboy. Everyone just tried not to talk about it, especially in front of Johnny. There were times where I would think about how Johnny would be able to cope in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. I didn't like to think about it. It would make him even more harmless if that was even possible and it would be easier for the Socs to hurt him. It wasn't just the Socs that I was worried about, I was scared about the day he would be able to be sent home. That would mean war for us and even more unnecessary pain for Johnny that shouldn't ever have been spoken of.

"Dally?" I broke out of my thoughts to listen to Johnny's voice calling me.

"Yeah?" I rubbed my eyes in a desperate attempt to get those bad thoughts out of my head and turned all of my attention to Johnny.

"You okay?" Johnny asked, his voice soft and quiet like it usually was. His eyes had a look of concern in them and he even looked sad.

"Yeah. Don't worry about me kid, we should be worrying about you now," I sighed, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees. Johnny just nodded and looked down at his hands. I started to instantly regret the last part of what I said cause he probably didn't want to be thinking about what could happen in the future. "Sorry, kid," I murmured quietly, those words feeling foreign on my tongue.

"S'okay," Johnny sighed and looked up at me, a small smile on his face. I returned the smile before looking at the ground wondering whether to bring up a subject that I've been wanting to discuss with him or not.

We sat in silence for a while and I watched as his eyes closed and fluttered open and repeated. I felt like he didn't care that I was watching him even though I knew that he knew I was watching him. Johnny lied there, staring at the wall and occasionally looking at his hands and then the ground. I started to feel awkward and I was pretty sure that Johnny was too. I just wanted to talk to him but for once I didn't know what to say.

"Um, Dally?" Johnny whispered, looking up at me with his big dark eyes.

"Yeah? What's the matter?" I asked, glad for there to be an actual conversation going on to break the strange silence.

"You said something, before I woke up a few weeks ago," Johnny started slowly, as if he was nervous about what he wanted to say. Johnny always sounded nervous when he spoke but how his voice was at that time was different.

"What about it?" I leaned towards him, urging him to keep talking.

"You…" Johnny started. He was interrupted when Sodapop, Ponyboy and Two-Bit walked in and stopped our conversation. Johnny looked from the boys and back to me and I could tell he was uncomfortable.

"How you doing kid?" Sodapop asked, watching me and Johnny but paying more attention to Johnny. I felt like Sodapop knew about my thing for Johnny but I was never quite sure.

"Fine," Johnny said quietly as usual.

"Dally, when did you get here?" Two-Bit laughed, pretending like he didn't notice I was there. Ponyboy rolled his eyes and sat in another chair that was near Johnny's bed.

"Dumbass," I mumbled to myself even though I was pretty sure everyone heard me.

"Speak for yourself," Two-Bit laughed, receiving a punch in the arm from Soda.

I started to slowly drown out everyone's voices and started to focus on what was going on inside my head. I was so sure that Johnny had begun to talk about what I said when I thought he was dead. I was positive. I knew that the gang had realized that I was in my own world and something was wrong with me. I could feel their eyes burning through me but I didn't really care. I caught eye contact with Johnny every once in a while but they continued to talk and laugh. I joined their conversations and laughs every once in a while too, just so I didn't seem too out of the ordinary.

But I couldn't get Johnny's words out of my head. What would happen the next day? I wanted to know what he was going to say even though I already knew.

 **As I said, it was short but it got things going between Johnny and Dally. The next chapter will probably be longer. The next chapter will be better, I think you'll like the next one! *hint hint* I also wanted to get Johnny out of that death trap that he was in during his hospital scenes in the movie. They made me really sad and yeah I understand why he was in that death trap but I cry every time I see him in it so I changed it since in this story he was getting better. Dally and Johnny are my favs and I love them both. Okay I love Dally a bit more but I still love Johnny too. Anyway, please review!**


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